Eurosport in Asia-Pacific recently announced its acquisition of broadcast rights to a comprehensive range of cycling events, including the three major world tours – Tour de France, Giro

d'Italia and Vuelta a España – and key races in the global professional cycling calendar.

"These are multi-year deals, mostly exclusive, that will put Eurosport in the forefront of live sports television in this region," said Arjan Hoekstra, managing director of Eurosport in Asia-Pacific.

"This will also make us one of the leading sports channels to offer Asia-Pacific viewers with the most comprehensive range of top cycling events from around the world. We understand that many sports viewers across Asia-Pacific are dedicated cycling fans and we responded to this market demand by aggressively acquiring live broadcast rights to top-tier cycling properties,"

Hoekstra adds.

Hoekstra tells Television Asia Plus he feels that there are a great number of sports that have not had their fair share of TV exposure in Asia Pacific.

"Cycling is a good example, along with rugby, athletics, tennis and various other summer and winter Olympic sports. A lot of viewers in Asia-Pacific are actually very passionate and knowledgeable about these sports and have demonstrated a keen interest in them."

"On the other hand, there are the more casual viewers who are not looking for their specific sport but have an open mind to watch and to know about new sports. Audiences need to be educated about what they are watching before they will develop and grow that interest. We feel that Eurosport is in a good position to provide for these viewers who are seeking variety in their sports viewing. In Asia-Pacific, we broadcast more than 60 different sports. We focus on live events at the highest level of competition. "

Still relatively early days for Eurosport in the region, Hoekstra says the channel is not measured because, as of yet, they do not sell any advertising.

"We have initially focused our efforts on building our distribution network around the region and to delivering a quality channel that adds value to our distribution platform partners. Judging by their feedback, the feedback they receive from their customers and the take-up of the channel we have definitely struck gold and are thus encouraged to pursue our strategy of providing

a high quality sports channel giving a podium to top level sports that have been underexposed in this part of the world. "

So in these economic times, what primary factors are influencing which sports rights Eurosport pursues?

"We are a very cost conscious company even in the best of times. You need to be as it is very easy to overspend on sports rights and production. Our aim is to consistently improve the value of our channel by investing in great quality rights and production but to do so in line with the growth of our business. It is clear that commercial free TV around the world has taken a significant blow during the recent economic crisis and rightsholders that are only dependent on this type of transmission have certainly felt the pressure during their renegotiations. Public TV and Pay TV have been less affected."

Asked whether some (major) sporting events attract a disproportionate share of rights revenues compared to what can be realistically recouped, Hoekstra says this largely depends on how the P+L is calculated on a certain acquisition.

"For example a certain football property for a single channel may make no commercial sense as it cannot be financed through distribution and/or advertising revenues, but if you reason as a distribution platform and you take into account all the ancillary benefits like general subscriber growth, brand awareness and market share it may make a lot of sense. "

On the right track

• Tour de France (Tour of France) – beginning in Monaco this year and passing through five nations, the 3,445 kilometre race includes seven mountain stages, finishing at the famous landmark, Champs-Élysées in Paris.

• Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) – Simply known as The Giro, the long-distance road race is held in Italy over three weeks in May and early June. The second most important stage race after the Tour de France, in 2008 it captivated 250 million viewers from more than 140 countries.

• Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) – A three-week road cycling stage race that forms part of the Grand Tours of Europe.

• Paris-Nice

• Paris-Roubaix – The course's rough terrain and cobblestones earned it the name The Hell of the North.

• La Flèche Wallonne

• Liège-Bastogne-Liège – One of the oldest classic road cycling events that takes place in Belgium.

• Paris-Tours – A single-day race, also known as the Sprinters Classic.

• Tour of Qatar – A six-stage road race held in Qatar as part of the UCI Asia Tour.

• Tirreno-Adriatico – Also know as the Race of the Two Seas, the elite cycling event follows a route between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts of Italy.

• Milan-San Remo – Also known as the Spring Classic, the 294 km course between Milan and San Remo is the longest one-day professional race.

• Giro di Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy) – The last major cycling race in the European calendar.

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